The Waterpark
by Machungwa63
Summary: Two chapters. The weather's warming up and I'm less than a month away from my first ever trip to Disney World, so I was inspired to write this story. Simba, Kiara and Nala go to the Waterpark. Yes...I said 'and Nala.' At each ride she comes up with ingenious plans to stay as dry as possible. Simba, and Kiara, however, try their best to foil her plans...
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N: Woop! Woop! Less than a month until my first EVER trip to Disney World! Anyhow, the weather's warming up and I'm sure that's got a lot of us to thinking about going to the water park! Well, first, let's see how it goes for our three TLK friends. All characters owned by Disney)**

* * *

Kiara led her parents through the gates, running all the way up to a giant, blue water fountain before turning back and calling "Mom, Dad, hurry up!"

Simba chuckled while Nala glanced around anxiously at all the crowds, rides and, most significantly, water that was around her.

"No need to rush Kiara, we've got all day," Simba said, making his way up to her.

"Wow, look at all these rides!" Kiara exclaimed, her eyes darting left to right and back to left again. "The log flume, the rapids, the speed slide…"

Kiara gasped as she caught sight of a giant ride off towards the back side of the park.

"…the _Waterfall…"_ she uttered majestically, taking a step forwards towards it, trying to get a better look.

Nala glanced over towards it. "It looks just like a regular log flume," she observed.

"Mom!" Kiara exclaimed. "The waterfall is _much_ more than just a regular log flume. It is the tallest, most epic, most awesome log flume ever built!"

Simba agreed. "Nala, the Waterfall goes up to a height of 150 feet. You drop at a speed of 50 miles per hour at 65 degrees. It's calculated that, were the force of the splash to be condensed into a cubic milliliter, the energy released from it would be enough to vaporize any material that it were to pass through."

"Wow," Nala replied sarcastically, "I didn't come here for a science lesson, Simba. In fact, how _did_ you talk me into coming here again?"

"It was cheaper than the theme park…and I made you breakfast in bed."

"It was a bowl of cereal. And it wasn't very good either."

"You're just grouchy because you don't want to get wet."

"This is true."

"Mom! Dad!" Kiara shouted; wanting them to shut up so that they could hurry up and get on a ride. "Come on, which ride should we go on first? The kayaks? The wave pool? The water playground?"

"Well, your mom's the grouchy one," Simba reasoned. "Let's let her decide."

**Five minutes later:**

"The lazy river," Kiara observed, unenthusiastically.

"Doesn't it look fantastic?" Nala asked. "I think I could spend all day on here."

"Is that why you brought a sunhat, sunglasses and a magazine?"

"Oh boy Simba, you _are_ a smart cookie, aren't you?"

"Alright, well let's get this over with," Kiara commented, grabbing an inflatable, yellow hoop off of the concrete path and walking her way over to the water. Simba and Nala followed.

Kiara and Simba walked straight into the water and set themselves inside their hoops once they were in the current. Nala set her hoop down in the water, then walked along the concrete path until she was alongside it. She rested her rear legs over one side of the hoop and lied her back down on the other side, limiting the amount of fur that she would get wet. She used her paws to cling onto the side of the concrete path. She wasn't ready to go just yet…

"Come on Nala, it's a water park," Simba reasoned, "you're bound to get wet sooner or later."

"Coming Simba," Nala replied, kicking herself off of the siding and joining the others in sailing along the current.

Nala opened her magazine and began reading while Simba and Kiara slowed down and waited for her. As the current brought Nala closer towards them, she could tell that her husband and her daughter were giggling. She set her magazine down.

"Something I'm missing?" she asked.

"Nope, nope, not at all," Simba replied hastily.

"Don't worry Mom, you're not going to get wet," Kiara added, in the same hasty tone.

Quite satisfied, Nala picked her magazine back up and continued on her relaxing ride.

_I know why they were giggling,_ she thought. _They think I don't know about the sprinklers around the corner. But they're stupid. I know about those sprinklers…I research places before I go to them, you know. Their sprinklers are set to turn on every thirty seconds for a period of twenty seconds. That is why I waited before we left…because I was looking across the river to check that the timing of the sprinklers was just right. I weigh 314 pounds and…given the speed of the current…my weight should slow this tube down to a speed of about 1.6 miles per hour. If I timed it just right…I should be able to pass through the sprinkler section when they're all turned off._

Nala gave a feeble smile. It was hidden by her magazine though, so Simba and Kiara couldn't tell. That combined with the fact that Nala was wearing sunglasses, gave her the perfect poker face.

"Oh, by the way Nala," Simba commented.

Annoyed, Nala set her magazine down. "What?" she asked.

They were approaching the sprinkler section. All the sprinklers had just turned off.

"I think I know what was wrong with your cereal this morning. I used whole milk instead of your regular skimmed."

"Oh, yeah, that probably explains it then," Nala replied. "Don't worry Simba, I'm not mad. I was just messing with you, that was all."

"Yeah…but…judging by that…you probably actually weigh 315 pounds right now."

"So?"

"Well…I know you Nala…you're smart. You probably did research and calculated the timing of the sprinklers before you entered the water. Well…thanks to that whole milk increasing your weight…your calculations are far off."

Nala's ears dropped back. He'd figured her out…he'd been one step ahead this whole time. Nala turned back around and saw that, indeed, the sprinklers were already off. That wasn't how she planned it. Her timing was off, and those sprinklers were set to turn back on any…second…no—

_WHOOSH!_

_ "AARGH!" _Nala screamed.

She dropped her magazine into the water and began paddling backwards, trying to avoid the sprinklers. It was in vain though. Nala was, slowly but surely, being dragged by the current into the sprinkler section.

Simba and Kiara were already passing through.

"Watch that one on your right!"

"Missed it!"

"One on your left!"

"Ah! It got me!"

"It got me too! Boy that's cold!"

"Oh – one more behind you!"

"Woohoo!"

Nala, meanwhile, was still paddling franticly against the current.

_This isn't working, _she observed, as the current pulled her closer and closer towards the sprinklers. _Time for another plan._

Nala turned around and began paddling with the current. The first sprinkler was on the left side of the river, so she turned right. The second one was on the right, so she turned left. She stayed there as she passed on by the third and fourth sprinklers, then ducked as the fifth one shot horizontally right above her head.

So far, so good, but there would be no avoiding the sixth one. A sprinkler on the left and a sprinkler on the right meant that everyone who was passing through that point of the river was being covered with water. And, judging by the consistent pattern of everyone shivering and shaking as they passed under it…the water was cold. Very cold.

Nala gulped. There was only one way out of this one.

She reached for the concrete siding and grabbed hold of it with her claws. The current was still trying to push her down the lazy river, but Nala was in control this time. She was not budging.

The lioness let out a sigh of relief.

Then, however, she looked down at her chest. Her magazine had just floated on by her in the water's current. Then, it passed the sprinklers and floated towards the river's edge. There, it got stuck on the end of the water pipe Nala was clinging next to.

The sprinklers stopped sprinkling.

Nala smiled. "Finally," she said, letting go of the siding. Nala gave herself a kick off the concrete edge and began to flow along at 1.57 miles per hour down the river again.

"Ah," she sighed, closing her eyes. This was bliss.

She opened her eyes again…and then realized that all was not quite as it seemed.

The pipe that she had been clinging next to was now thicker than it had been before. Nala looked back farther upstream. Some of the sprinklers on the other side of the river were still running.

_But, _Nala thought, _then it couldn't have…shut…OH NO!_

Nala worked it out. Her magazine had clogged up the pipe's end. Consequently, the pipe was now building up more and more pressure and was becoming wider and wider. It was getting set to burst.

"Uh oh."

Nala quickly paddled her way back over to the river's edge and jumped out of her hoop. An instant later, and the pipe burst, blasting all of the lions next to it off of their hoops and submerging them into the water.

* * *

"Alright Kiara, where to next?" asked Simba.

"I don't know…" Kiara replied, her eyes still darting around at all the attractions around her.

"How about that giant pool over there?" Nala asked. "Looks nice, we're close to it and we don't have to worry about lining up for it."

"You'd come in with us?" Simba asked, eyebrows raised.

"Ankle-deep, yes," Nala replied. "That's almost full body-height for Kiara."

Simba groaned. "Alright, wuss. We'll stay in at the shallow end."

"Sounds good to me."

The rest of the duo's conversation turned into repetitive calls of "slow down!" and "be careful, Kiara!" in an attempt to stop their daughter from slipping as she ran over towards the pool. The family soon found a giant, unattended beach ball as they entered the pool, and they spent their first five minutes just enjoyably batting it around to each other.

Eventually, a loud, low hum echoed off of the walls around them.

Nala's ears perked up. "What was that?" she asked.

Simba and Kiara both turned and smirked at her.

"Did you not see the name of this pool when we walked in?" Simba asked.

"It's just a pool, isn't it? It doesn't have a name."

"It's called the _wave_ pool," Kiara replied.

Nala looked up. Indeed, she could now see, the first wave had just been released. It started off as a small ripple in the deep end, then increased to a size of a couple of inches in the middle, then turned back into a ripple by the time it got to Simba and Co.

Nala shrugged. "That wasn't so bad," she said.

"Oh," Simba replied, "they'll get bigger."

Nala looked up just before the second wave got to them. It was about half an inch bigger…not much.

The next one was about another inch larger…then another inch…then another inch…then another inch. In the middle of the pool, the waves were now altering the elevation of the water by about a foot or two. But, by the time it got to the shallow end, it was barely having an effect at all.

Still, it was enough to make Nala slightly weary.

"Simba…hun…I don't know…I think Kiara's going to be a little out of her depth if these waves get much larger. Perhaps we should take a few steps back."

"Nonsense!" Kiara exclaimed, swimming over towards her right and grabbing an unattended float. "See, look! I've got a boogie board!"

"A what?"

"A boogie board. You put it under you and it keeps you afloat on top of the wave."

Simba was delighted to finally see Kiara with her own personal floatation device. Now it meant he could finally go in towards the deep end.

"Come on Kiara, let's go and catch some waves!"

Simba began treading water while Kiara jumped up on top of her boogie board and paddled behind her father towards the deep end of the wave pool. Simba checked over his shoulder.

"Coming Nala?"

"Eh…sure…hold on a sec…" Nala replied. She began looking around to see if she could find another unattended boogie board. If she could, she would be able to use it to ride on top of the waves in the deep end. That way, she would be able to stay dry _and_ she would be able to spend quality time with her family.

Finally, she found one leaning up against the far left-hand side of the wave pool, not in an area much deeper than where she was now.

She waded over towards it and pulled it away from the side.

Within an instant, she realized that she had made a mistake. The water around her was getting sucked towards the wall.

"Ma'am, that's not a boogie board!" exclaimed a park worker, standing above her on the tiled edge outside of the pool, "that was a patch being used to cover up one of our broken filters!"

"Well surely it can't be too bad, can it?" asked Nala.

Suddenly, a large _BANG_ was heard, emitting from the far side of the pool. Nala looked over, and her pupils dilated as she realized what had just happened.

The wave machine had broke…and it had just shot out a five foot wave that was getting larger and larger as the pool got shallower. The wave was tossing all of the swimmers off of their floats as it drew closer and closer towards the shallow end.

By the time it approached Nala, it was about fifteen foot tall.

"Eep," Nala squeaked.

Hurriedly, the lioness turned around and stepped on top of her 'boogie board.' Riding this wave was the only way she could prevent herself from getting soaked.

Nala checked over her shoulder and saw a wall of blue right behind her. She closed her eyes as she braced for the watery impact…

…

It never came.

Nala opened her eyes again. All she could see was sky.

She looked down.

"Aargh!" she screamed, taking a step back on her boogie board. Somehow, she was right on top of the wave! All of the other lions in the park looked like ants right now, as she flew along twenty feet above the ground, petrified about the possibilities of what could happen when this wave finally broke.

Seconds later, and it did.

Nala was thrown off the top of her boogie board and landed with a _thud_ as she rolled down onto a series of wooden planks. The landing was rough and painful…but she was alive.

And she was dry.

Nala lifted her head and tried to get an idea of where she had landed.

Her questions were answered when her drenched husband and daughter ran on by her, cheering as they charged across the wooden planks and began to make their ways up a wooden staircase.

"Woohoo! You found the log flume Nala! Come on; time to go!"

Nala groaned and made her way back up to her feet, reluctantly following the rest of her family.

* * *

**(A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Part 2 will be posted tomorrow! Reviews appreciated!)**


	2. Chapter 2

The park worker pushed the metal bar down until it locked with a _clank_ across Kiara's lap. Nala sat behind her daughter and had her two front paws held tightly on to Kiara's side, while Simba did the same to Nala from behind.

"This isn't the Waterfall, is it Kiara?" Nala asked.

"No, the Waterfall is much bigger than this!" Kiara replied, as the park worker kicked them off and sent them on their way down a slow, winding river. The hollowed-out plastic log that they were sailing in turned simply by bouncing off the walls on each side of it, spilling droplets of water into the boat. The family passed a wooden sign that read:

CAUTION: You WILL Get Wet!

Nala rolled her eyes. "Now they tell us," she commented.

"I told you it was inevitable," Simba replied. "You can't go to a water park and not expect…well…_water."_

The boat finally made its way out of the final slow turn and began to ascend up a black conveyer belt. This first drop looked to be only about fifteen feet high.

"This is just the small drop, right? You don't get that wet?"

"Nope," Simba replied, gently massaging his mate's shoulders from behind, trying to calm her. "Trust me, you'll be fine."

The boat passed over the crest of the first hill and began its descent down the other side. Less than two seconds later, and they were at the bottom, pushing out water left and right from underneath the boat…but not above it.

Nala blinked. "That was pathetic," she said.

"The first one always is," Kiara replied. "But don't worry, the second one is twice as big!"

Nala looked in front of her daughter. Indeed, as the boat made its way through a long left turn, the next hill came farther and farther into view. From what Nala could tell, it was about thirty to forty foot tall. Her heart rate picked up.

"Okay…" she said, "…here goes…"

The boat got picked up by the second conveyer belt. It took them about thirty seconds to get to the top of the hill. Or, ten minutes in Nala's time.

Nala gulped. "We're quite high up, aren't we?"

"Remember to smile for the camera, dear," Simba sang as a response.

The log passed over the crest of the hill…and began its descent.

**Two minutes later:**

"I remembered to smile."

"Yes…but it's still a terrible photo."

"Why?"

"Because you ducked."

"Of course I ducked. Ponchos don't always protect the face."

"Where did you even get that fur-colored poncho?"

"They were handing them out next to the bathroom, which I went to while we were waiting in line for the ride."

"Mom, I agree with Dad…we can't see your face."

"Because I ducked so that the water wouldn't get in my eyes when we splashed down at the bottom and instead it just splashed over my fur-colored poncho."

"I wondered why your fur felt rough."

"I was waiting for you to say something. It's not like you sleep next to me every night," Nala retorted sarcastically.

"Well no more wearing of ponchos on the rides. I don't think that's what they're intended for, anyhow."

"Yes, your _highness."_

"What ride shall we go on next, Dad? Can we go on the Waterfall yet, huh? Can we? Can we? Can we?"

Nala chuckled, delighted to see her daughter so excited. "Let's just start walking Kiara. We'll see what we come up next to."

* * *

"Rapids," commented Simba, looking over towards the left.

"Ooh, those look like fun!" exclaimed Kiara. "My friends told me you get _soaked_ when you go on those!"

"Nala," Simba called, "you up for the rapids?"

"Actually Simba, I'm more intrigued by these," Nala replied earnestly, pointing over towards a series of cylindrical slides which let out into a giant pool at the bottom. The riders were all coming out of the bottom at excessive speeds; sometimes they'd be on one-ringed hoops, sometimes two-ringed and sometimes three.

"It looks like they're built more for speed than they are for the splash at the bottom," Nala observed, watching as a group of three emerged at a thrilling pace as they were spat out from one of the dark tubes, yet didn't get covered in that much water.

Simba and Kiara exchanged glances and groaned.

"Come on guys…it's the Speed Slide. You sounded excited when you talked about it earlier, Kiara."

"But Mom…the rapids look like so much more fun!"

"But I'm not going to want to go on the rapids. We're here to do rides as a family. I want to enjoy myself here too. I mean, come on, I've already brought some memorabilia."

"You brought a doorstop."

"Still counts."

Kiara sighed and gave in. "Okay, Mom. We'll go on the stupid Speed Slide. But…after this…can we do something that _I _want to do…_please?"_

Nala smiled back. "I promise."

**Five minutes later:**

"Wahay! Yeehaw! Aren't we going fast, guys?"

Simba and Kiara, meanwhile, were quite bored, looking at a map as they sat in the back two inflatable rings.

"Mom's not going to do the rapids, Dad. Perhaps we should go somewhere else?" Kiara muttered.

Simba, meanwhile, was rummaging through a bag. "Where did Nala's doorstop go?"

"Hey Dad," Kiara whispered, moving in closer to him. "I've been thinking…"

"Uh oh, that's dangerous."

"Ha ha, very funny…no, I mean, I've been thinking…if we try to tip this thing over when we come out of the final turn, we might all fall into the pool at the bottom!"

Simba smirked back. "Sounds like a plan," he whispered.

"Guys, what are you talking about back there?" Nala asked.

No reply came, but Nala didn't care. She was thoroughly enjoying herself.

"Ah well, who cares. Look guys, we're coming out of the final turn now – here we go! Wahey!"

"Alright Kiara," Simba whispered, "three…tw—huh?"

Before Simba could get to 'one,' Nala had lifted out an object that had been sitting underneath her. It was her doorstop! She threw it out in front of them. It landed right where Nala had planned: right in the dead center of the tube with the sloped part facing towards them.

Their inflatable raft hit the doorstop and took off up about six inches into the air. Nala had done such a great job at building up speed in the raft that, when it came back down to the surface, it merely just skimmed the top of the water all the way until they were thrown out of the exit of the landing pool.

Nala chortled as they all crashed out of the raft and onto dry, concreted land.

"Ah, that was perfect!" Nala exclaimed.

"Far from it," a fairly disgruntled Kiara retorted, "we didn't get wet at all."

"I know," replied Nala, picking herself up onto her feet and wiping a tear from her eye. "That's what made it so brilliant."

"Alright," Simba interjected, coming between his wife and his daughter. "You've had your fun for today, Nala. Let's let Kiara pick a ride."

"Okay," Nala agreed. "Come on Kiara, let's start walking. Just point when we come to a ride that interests you."

"We're already there," Kiara replied. "Look," she said, pointing over towards where a bunch of young cubs were running around a small water playground. They were going down slides, dumping buckets of water on top of each other and running through showerheads and sprinklers in a bright red, yellow, blue and green plastic environment.

"That looks doable," said Nala, walking over towards one of the showerheads. She walked right underneath it and allowed her whole body to get coated with the water droplets.

"Mom…did you just do that?" asked her daughter, flabbergasted.

"Yeah," Nala replied. "Come on, Kiara. It's nothing more than a rain shower. I can cope with that."

"You know what this means though?" Simba asked. "You actually got wet on a ride at the water park. That means you're off the hook!"

"What hook?" Nala asked back.

"Well, that's all Kiara and I wanted to see you do. But…now that you've actually gotten wet on a ride at the water park, I guess that means that we're okay if you want to sit out the rest of the rides. It's entirely up to you of course."

"Well…" Nala said, thinking about it, "…what other rides did you have in mind?"

**Five minutes later:**

_THE WATERFALL_

You were not going to get on this ride by mistake. Cautionary guidelines and signs spelling out the name of the ride were posted all over the entrance to the line of the ride. Even if you were blind, the guidelines were being read out word for word by an automated voice being played over the PA speakers over and over again.

"Nala," Simba addressed, "Kiara and I are more than understanding if you decide you want to sit out this ride. All we ask is that, in return, you take a photo of us coming down," Simba stated, handing the camera over to his mate.

Nala took the camera. "That's it?" she asked. "No catch?"

"No catch."

"Despite the fact that the only time I've got wet today was under a showerhead built for little kids?"

"No catch."

"Despite the fact that, if it turns out there is a catch, I will force you to sleep somewhere else for the next two weeks?"

"No catch."

"Hmm…" Nala pondered.

Kiara began making chicken noises.

"Kiara, be quiet."

Kiara began to make louder chicken noises.

"It's not going to work Kiara…I'm not going on the Waterfall."

Kiara began to make even louder chicken noises.

"Kiara…Simba…" Nala sighed, "…I can't…I just _can't._ Water is not my thing. Everyone has their silly phobias, mine's water. Sorry. I'll stay here…I'll take the photo…I'll feel guilty about it, yes, but I'm sorry…that's just the way I am."

Simba shrugged. "Suit yourself," he replied. "Come on Kiara, let's go on the Waterfall!" he exclaimed.

Kiara was way ahead of him. She began running underneath the giant blue, wooden sign that read "THE WATERFALL" and over towards where, honestly, a relatively _short_ line was lined up ready to go on the ride.

Nala threw the camera around her neck and walked over towards the ride's edge, positioning herself in a crowd with other lions, all setting themselves up to watch their families coming down the 150 drop that was known as the Waterfall.

Thanks to the short line, Simba and Kiara were already boarding, and so Nala set her camera up and zoomed in a little bit on the hill that the boat would be descending down.

"Is that a waterproof camera?" asked a male, teenaged lion, standing next to her.

"Huh? Oh…no. No, this is just my home camera."

"You should really have a waterproof one at a place like this. Why don't you go under that plastic, transparent building over there? That's probably the safest place for a high-end camera such as that."

Nala chuckled. "Yeah, I did think about that," she replied. "Quite an expensive camera, really, to be carrying around a place like this. I saw that plastic shelter earlier though…I really don't want to go in there. All those lions crowded into such a small, cramped space…and that sun in probably beaming down through those panels…it must be immensely hot in there! Also, it looks like it's a terrible place for getting a good photo. I can get a much better angle from here."

The lion shrugged. "Suit yourself," she replied.

Now confident that she had set the camera up perfectly, Nala looked away from the screen and watched the boat ascend the 150 feet climb with her naked eye. It was not hanging around to do it either: it was already virtually at the top. Nala looked back into her camera and then set herself up for the perfect shot.

_This is going to be a great photo,_ she thought. _Simba and Kiara are going to love this. It's such a shame that all those other lions are taking refuge in the shel…h—hang on…_

Nala turned her head sideways, back towards the lion.

"Why's that thing called a shelter?" she asked.

The lion laughed. "Well the Waterfall is terrible, as far as a water park ride is concerned," he replied. "Everyone knows that. Those riders are hardly going to get wet at all. All the water gets displaced to the left and to the right…haven't you realized you're standing in three inches thick of water?"

Nala looked down at her feet…

She was.

"The only way you can get a good photo without risking your camera getting smashed into the ground…is if you take it from inside that shelter."

Nala looked back over towards the flume with her mouth agape. The boat was already at the bottom.

At 50 miles per hour, the boat, which had fallen 150 feet at an angle of 65 degrees, splashed into the bottom of the pool, displacing hundreds of gallons of water into the air. Nala's eyes were no longer affixed on her husband and her daughter…but rather, that 20 foot wave that was heading her way…

* * *

Simba and Kiara were balling over in laughter. The sun was beginning to set. They had been off the ride for about forty minutes now…but they still couldn't get over it.

"YOU LOOK LIKE A SHIH-TZU!" Kiara exclaimed, opening her eyes for brief instant to get another look at her mother.

Simba tried to control his chuckles as he staggered back up onto his feet.

"There was no catch Nala…I never said you couldn't stand under the shelter."

"I…hate…you…"

Simba cracked back up into a fit of laughter and rolled back down into a heap on the floor.

"Excuse me Ma'am," called an elderly lion, walking over to them. "I'm Bwana Park, the water park owner. It has came to my attention, Misses Nala, that you burst one of our water pipes at the Lazy River, you broke our wave machine on the Wave Pool, you misused one of our ponchos on the Log Flume, you were responsible for a dangerous exit from the Speed Slide and that you disobeyed the age restrictions at the Water Playground. Also…are this damaged magazine, sunhat, sunglasses, camera and doorstop yours?"

"Yes sir."

"Here we are, we'll throw them in the trash for you. So, all in all, your total in fines comes out to be $4,107. Please have it all paid by next week," said Bwana Park, handing the bill over to her and walking away.

Nala sighed. "Simba…next year can we just go to the theme park? It's so much cheaper in the long run."

Simba stood up and took a hard look at his mate. Wet strands of fur were dangling over her eyes, drooping down from her muzzle, pulling her ears back, tangling up the fur on her chest, soaking up her tail and were causing her to shiver all over as the sun set and took the heat of the day away with it.

"It would be cheaper," Simba admitted. "But, when it all gets weighed out…this is so much more worth it."

* * *

**(A/N: Poor Nala...but what did you expect? XD**

**Hope you enjoyed!)**


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